


Where to Live Inbetween

by therudestflower



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Pre-bite/post-bite identity crisis, Shared angst and pancakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-31
Updated: 2012-07-31
Packaged: 2017-11-11 02:56:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/473728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therudestflower/pseuds/therudestflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isaac shows up at Erica's house at six in the morning. They try to figure out how to exist with who they were before the bite, who they are now and that day in the MRI waiting room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where to Live Inbetween

Erica was already awake when Isaac appeared on her front lawn.

Carson had woken her up at six to watch TV with him. He wasn’t very cute about it either. Instead of whispering in her ear and tugging on her sleeve, Carson jumped on her bed and sang the chorus to “Help!” over and over. Yeah, it was pretty cute, but that’s only because he was seven. Anyone else she would have clawed half to death.

The kid got up obscenely early because it was the only time Pokémon played. Erica regretted ever showing him her old deck. Still, after barely an hour of sleep Erica was on the plaid couch in sweatpants, listening to her baby brother sing along with the intro.

“You know I can get it for you on DVD,” she told him when it went to commercial.

“You don’t have any money,” Carson said. He flopped down and lay over her leg.

“I can still get it.” Erica sat up at the sound of a bike chain whirring down her block. She could hear the chain pulling at inhuman speeds. At six in the morning and going that speed, she could be pretty sure that it was Isaac. Loser still hadn’t upgraded from his undersized bike. She untangled herself from Carson, pulled on her new black boots and walked out to the front lawn.

Grey light reached over her cul-de-sac, thin fog leaving the air damp and Erica annoyed at being brought outside. The sun wasn’t even up yet, and Isaac had decided it was time for a play date.

Isaac dropped his bike on the yellowing grass and walked towards her. He seemed very unsurprised that she was waiting for him, which was annoying. He was wearing a worn blue hoodie that Erica was pretty sure Derek hadn’t approved of. Not that she could talk, as Isaac immediately pointed out.

“You aren’t in your usual battle gear.”

Erica tipped her head to the side. “There’s no one here worth impressing, is there?”

Isaac grinned and tugged at a string hanging off his sleeve. “Guess not. Got anything to eat?”

Breakfast wasn’t exactly what Erica expected out of a visit from Isaac. A message from Derek maybe, or some kind of proposition. Anything remotely more illicit than food. She’d had enough of Derek showing up without warning, and his presence was more alluring than Isaac’s. Especially at six in the freaking morning.

“Kitchen’s closed. I don’t care if Derek doesn’t feed you."

He raised an eyebrow and walked passed her. “You’re not going to turn me away. I knew you before, remember?”

That was the problem.

Isaac shouldered through the open door but stopped short. Erica easily pushed passed him. “If you’re going to stay, you have to be quiet. My parents are still asleep.” Isaac made a face and jutted his head at the TV, which was veritably blaring. “He gets to make noise,” Erica said, “He lives here.”

“Who is he?”

Carson showed interest in Isaac for the first time. He sat up and glanced at Pokémon before focusing on Isaac. “I live here,” he parroted Erica. ”My name is Carson Enrique Reyes.” To Erica he said, “You should make me breakfast.”

Erica grinned and knocked Carson, who dutifully fell over and pretend to be murdered. “You should learn how to pour a bowl of cereal,” but headed for the kitchen anyway. Isaac followed her, practically breathing down her neck.

“He’s your brother?”

Rolling her eyes, Erica started to take out the ingredients for pancakes. She waited for the quietly incredulous questions everyone asked, doing their best to seem polite and above all not racist as they tried to find out how blond Erica could possibly be related to Carson Enrique Reyes. She normally stuttered through the explanation about second marriages and Mexican step-fathers and how she took his name when Carson was born. And left out the part about him being her real dad in every way, because she didn’t even know the gnarly backstory of why her bio-dad wasn’t around, so he couldn’t be worth much. But that was pre-bite, and post-bite, she had been waiting for the chance to tear down anyone who questioned the validity of her family.

But Isaac just took the frying pan from her and turned on the stovetop. “Pancakes?”

“What are you even doing here?” He was acting way too normal for the weirdness of him showing up. And so was she, Erica realized. “Seriously, does Derek not feed you? Do I need to call Department of Werewolf Welfare?”

Isaac took the stick of butter from her and started gliding it over the pan. “He kicked me out. Told me to spend the day bonding with my pack.”

Eventually it became clear that Isaac was going to take over pancake making, which was fine by her. She was still running on reserve energy. Erica sat down and just watched him. She wished she could just put her head down and nap, but they weren’t that close, and that wasn’t who she was anymore. The new Erica Reyes had to be on, ready to fight—be worth something.

She knew the Miss Marvel act wasn’t meant to last. But it was worth keeping up as long as it kept people paying attention.

“How do you know how to make pancakes?”

“I used to cook for my dad.” He said it offhand, just letting her know, but Erica felt bad almost instantly. “Not anymore.” Isaac slid the last pancake onto the stack and turned off the burner. He dropped two plates on the table and sat across from her.

Carson ran into the kitchen, and took one pancake of each of their plates and glared at his sister. “You should have a plate for me. That’s rude.” He ran back into the living room.

Erica and Isaac watch him go then looked at each other. It suddenly became obvious how weird this was. Two werewolves sharing pancakes. And the fact that Isaac just showed up and Erica let him in. He made pancakes. Maybe she should kick him out. That was something she could do.

But there was the unspoken truth that they already knew each other, and it wasn’t some adorable romance. Or friendship. Maybe just shared existence. So he started eating pancakes with his fingers, and Erica touched her still frizzy hair. If he had come later she would have been prepared and they wouldn’t be stuck in this in between mess of their lives before the bite and after.

It was so much simpler with Boyd. It was obvious that Isaac wasn’t crazy comfortable around him, but Erica thought he was awesome. So chill and easy. They got burgers together the night after he got turned. Even though she knew Isaac was the one who told Derek she would want the bite, they hadn’t talked much at all. It was too hard.

Isaac picked through his pancakes, tearing them up and occasionally taking a bite. If Derek was around he’d probably be using a knife, which was a stupid difference but it still mattered. Erica would change into a push up bra immediately. Not to look sexy, but because maybe that made her more powerful.

“Should we talk about it?” Isaac asked. “Get us all bonded and shit so Derek will be happy.”

It wasn’t flashback time. They weren’t going to talk about waiting for MRI’s in the same waiting room. And how it was the middle of the day, and they were the only ones there. They weren’t going to talk about how she had explained the biology of epilepsy, and he explained the mechanics of having your head bashed against a refrigerator for breaking a plate.

“Why are you telling me this?” she had whispered.

“I only tell people who aren’t going to do anything about it.”

And she didn’t. It was like a dare, and she didn’t turn down a dare.

They weren’t going to talk about it. Isaac knew it too.

He picked up his pulped pancakes and Erica’s clear plate. “Or we could talk about comic books.”

Erica looked out the window. Pink sun was pulling over the sky. Carson had turned off the TV and she could hear car doors slam shut a few blocks away. The world was starting and they were going to have to exist without the excuse of needing breakfast or her little brother being around.

She wondered how everything got abstract so freaking fast.

Isaac hovered over the table, still holding the plates. “We’re different now. We aren’t ignored little kids anymore. But—”

Erica raised her eyebrows and stood up. The plates were easy to take from his hands and drop in the sink. “Listen, we are either moving on, or we’re going to be losers for the rest of our lives.” Isaac nodded. “So we’re going to be normal now. Better than normal.”

“This doesn’t feel over.”

Erica tried on one of her new smiles and hoped it stuck. “Then we’re just going to have to fake it.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime between Erica being bitten and the pack going after Lydia. Inspired by the line "Let's just say, we have a mutual friend." Writing this was laborious, because of the tonal shifts and juggling the many ways in which these characters present themselves. So I hope I did them justice. Thanks for reading! 
> 
> -Becky


End file.
